We’ve all heard the phrase “Life’s not fair”, and it’s true! The same commercial to help desperate children comes up with the same 1-800 number everyday. For the small child in Africa it’s not fair. For the kid working in a sweatshop to make those clothes you’re wearing it’s not fair. For the guy waiting in-line at the store with his groceries it’s not fair. Go up to anyone in this planet and ask them what’s fair and not. Many responses you would get are insignificant, while other ones are the reason the world is the way it is.
   
    You have two kinds of people in this world that determine how it’s ran. The people with power and the people without power. And there has always been a conflict between these two since the beginning of the term “leader”. They are like your “Spy vs. Spy” and “Tom and Jerry”, everyone has seen them.

Ladies and gentlemen, here are your fighters:

    On this corner we have the stereotypical money making tycoon everyone wishes to be, the guy that owns the company that manufactured your TV, computer, phone, or ipod (or all of the above). Variants of this opponent include government officials, or anyone with the power to impact the world directly. 
    On the other corner is everybody else. By everybody I mean the electrician, the baker, the gardener, the candle stick maker (we have machines for that now), you know... everybody! Yes, you and I are in there too.
There’s an advantage to being “everybody else”... we’re not alone. Without you there’s nothing. Why do you think voting is such a big deal? The people have so much power, we don’t know it. There’s always going to be a power that is going to take advantage of our numbers and make money in his/her pocket, while we are left with the leftovers of society. We let the system classify us by the money we get from our backbreaking jobs. Low class, middle class, upper class, what is that all about? Is the person who makes 10x more money than my own father automatically a better person?
    The problem in the United States is how we run this country. I can assure you that there are countless things going on behind our backs. And they are things the people as a whole can fix. When “We the people” was written in the United States’s constitution, it was a vow to make things better as a whole country. We could go for a  social-political view like Marxism or such, that can give the people actual power in their government. Many of them are possible solutions to inequality in the world. Too many beliefs and righteousness is in jeopardy for other people for them to agree with this. All of us have to represent the equality of us all. I don’t want to be judged by the color of my skin, where I live, or how much money my parents make. I want to be judged by the things I do around me. That’s certainly not what’s happening around us. We the people of the United States of America won’t be looked as profit for others, but a representation of how a society can work as a whole, co-operating.

                  All over the Internet, child abuse tapes are being downloaded clicked and played, from Berlin, to Mexico, then Florida and New York; Everywhere. For all the young people who where taking advantage of it was recorded while it happen. If that is not handing a child low self esteem then the human mind must be at a lost for what is.

                  Just as most children in the world a young 11 year old girl in Cleveland, Texas was allegedly sexually assaulted and of course it was all lead to being her fault. A small blog about this story stated, “Some who attended the meeting in Cleveland blamed the girl for the way she dressed and claimed she lied about her age.” Theoretically she wanted this act upon her. A small committee gathered in her town to discuss what was going on and came to the conclusion she was asking to be sexually abused. Seamus O Riley said on her blog “Kids are groomed to think this is a good person who cares about them." She is right when things like this happen kids think it is an act of affection and they adapt to it.

                  Child abuse is more or less just a “Hi” and “Bye” thing; because most people have such a nonchalant attitude they just say it’s “bad” people abuse their child. Whenever the top comes up people just think if everybody does it there is nothing that can be done. So not much thought should be put into it.

                  Physical, sexual, emotional and mental are all different things but it is still abuse to a child. When a child is emotionally abused they have a lot of build up fear in them and they’re not attached to their parent or guardian, as they should be. They don’t feel genuine love.

                  Statistics say “An average of nearly four children die every day as a result of child abuse or neglect (1,760 in 2007).” Also “Girls are sexually abused three times more often than boys. Boys are at a greater risk of serious injury and of emotional neglect than are girls. The incidence of fatally injured girls declined slightly, while the incidence of fatally injured boys rose. Found no race differences in maltreatment incidence.” 

                  The most obvious is the physical abuse towards a child, causing unnecessary injury to a child with hands or any object. Making bruises, welts and cuts, causing them to flinch for no reason and having inappropriate clothing on, according to what the weather is during that day.

                                    People have must really sit back and think about how they are the adults. Take a few minutes and talk to a child before you decide to raise your hand and ask yourself is this action you’re doing to a child helping them in any way or is it hurting them. Realize child abuse is harming the new generation of the world and if children are being affect now.  Who is to say in the future when youngsters become the next mayor and president that the world won’t be at a grate disadvantage. 

                 Adults have to start going beyond what they think they know about raising or disciplining a child. Embrace children of the world because some people need to feel physical affection and ask them, do you feel loved?

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Imagine hearing the cries of thousands of animals as you take a big bite of your meal. Ever wonder where the food that many big companies such as McDonalds and Burger King get their meat products. Not many Americans look at the real story behind the process of where their food that they are about to consume comes from. Both you and I know that animal abuse is the last thing that pops up in our heads when we take a big of that nice juicy tender burger. They have to suffer through the neglect and inhumane places where they are held just to provide us with our food.

 

The blame can’t fall on the factories but also the failure of government regulators to join with the powerful meat industry to help the matters better. The meat industry is morally untenable and often well hidden in modern society behind large advertisements. Sue Coe an artiest that regulates the act of the cruelty to animals through her artwork stated, “We need to educate the public about how ‘food’ is raised. I believe in the goodness of people, and I think people are intelligent enough to make a choice. Open the doors to the slaughterhouses and the factory farms. Let people see how sows are tethered in crates their entire lives, standing on slats or concrete, not enough room to turn around. Pigs, in a natural state, would spend 70% of their ‘waking hours exploring their environment, making nests, rooting in the dirt and socializing” In an interview back in 2005. Since she grew up living next to a slaughterhouse, as a child she saw many terrible actions happening with the animals. Through her visual arts, Coe continues to raise the public’s awareness of the abuse of living things till this day. Through Sue’s work she wants to convey the message of what she saw and felt so many off her views can feel the same way and realize the acts behind what really is happening in these meat industries.

 

But behind the people that help stop the cruelty that is happening in the farms would need the governmental bound they have with society. Many other activists help fight the battle between the meat industries through different acts of research. "Factory farming has taken the joy out of the lives of millions of calves and pigs, and billions of hens; it has driven countless family farmers off the land; it has polluted streams and rivers; it has injected massive amounts of antibacterial and other drugs into the public food supply resulting in serious health risks. It has lowered food quality," says Christine Stevens, author of the book Factory Farming, The Experiment That Failed.  Society may not know the real story behind the torture and bad conditions that their meat products come from but this is not only bad for the animals but for the persons health too. If the animal is being tortured by being starved or given steroids then the chances of it showing up in your meat can be a result. In the near future be concerned about the conditions these animals have to sacrifice their lives for. WE can help, and WE can make a change not for ourselves but for the animals that provide us

In a recent rape report, which was put in the news, a teacher sexually assaulted a fourteen-year-old girl. Many of the parents were astonished since the teacher was ‘very popular with the kids’. This incident was not a one-time incident. The girls went on to say that this had been a recurring thing for three consecutive years. How is it that she was able to endure that type of abuse for three years? In retrospect an adult claims, "Whatever they said he did, he didn't do," said another father. "It's just a little kid looking for attention." If a child says they were raped then there is no harm in pursuing the matter. How would that father have felt if that was their child? Many times when a child is raped it is by a close friend, or an actual family member. This in turn tends to have the result of adults not believe the victim. In America, the statistics for rape are astronomical. One of the most unknown rape statistics is that one in ten rape victims is a male. When is comes to rape, a majority of victims are under the age of eighteen.

If children are our future, why do we not listen to them? There are so many children in the world that do not speak out because they are afraid, or even taught, that adults will not listen. The majority of child victims do not tell anyone what was done to them. This leaves the rapist safe, when in reality they should be punished by law. When a child is raped they have a certain amount of time to tell. If they wait too long then the evidence of the incident will be lost.

After a victim gains the ability to voice their assault, it takes time and many methods to heal the battered soul. Many people never fully recover. In a statistic from ‘Rape, Victims, Survivors, and What We Can Do’, ‘Thirty percent of rape victims will contemplate suicide.  Slightly more will seek therapy.  Slightly less will invest in some form of self-defense.  The overwhelming majority, 82%, will tell you that their lives have been permanently changed.’ When it is the case of women many have said ‘The way they view men will be permanently changed as well.’

The percentage of males that are raped in America is three percent. Males tend to be the least likely to report an assault. People’s opinion of the reason differs. Some say it is because they are emasculated. Others feel that men can get over it more quickly, since they are supposed to have a tough way of living. But no matter the gender of the victim or the assailant, this is still a crime worth punishing.

When it comes to rape, the punishment should be harsh. Not only are Rapists taking something precious from a humans being, they are also changing the person. Rape needs to end, people need to speak up against it. Suspected rapist should not be let out on bail, until proved innocent. That gives them a chance to hide, or strike again.

To all the people who have been abused, you are not alone. Every two minutes another female is being sexually assaulted. I tell you this hoping that you will have learned that rape is a major issue in America and listening to a victim, especially children, makes all the difference. Lend a helping hand by lending an open ear. 

 

 

                                ARE THEY REALLY BAD?

 

By: Rondel Calloway

 

Most kids enjoy lounging around spending their free time playing video games. There’s nothing wrong with playing video games. There’s so much you can learn from video games. What you learn might not be positive but your still learning. Who cares that you learned how to steal a car or learned to break into someone’s house.  These are things people think children learn from video games. 

 

People tend to think video games are bad because studies show that prolonged exposure to video games can desensitize people to violence. It also shows that video games can make the players more aggressive towards other people. According to the “Review of Research on the Impact of Violent Computer Games on Young People”, written by Raymond Boyle and Matthew Hibberd in 2002 Robert Steinheaesuer killed 16 people. They think that his actions were influenced by the popular computer game “Counter-Strike.”

 

            Yes this may be a bad thing especially since there are over 36 million gaming consoles in households throughout the United States.  The video game industry makes over 9 billion dollars a year.  This may be true but that doesn’t mean that all the video games are bad. Mary Schlimme says that video games can have a positive effect on children. She also thinks that video games can help improve children ability to solve puzzles and create different solutions to problems. Gaming companies like Leapster help children learn the alphabet and how to read, but it’s not just the PG games that teach kids new things. Assassin’s Creed 2 is rated M for mature that means that there is blood, gore, and possibly suggestive themes. It also takes place in Italy and it indirectly gives the player a history lesson about the famous artists that lived back in the 15^th century.  Another point she makes is that playing video games comes with two major cons.

 

The first is the player becomes less socially active and they become too attached to their gaming console. The second con is that the gaming console becomes a source of addiction. By playing the player then gets an emotional high aka an adrenaline rush. So the player continues to play so they can experience this emotional rush. These may be two major drawbacks but Mary Schlimme still thinks that the pros of video games still out weigh the cons. Video games are not the source of violence in a teenager’s life.

 

When the Virginia Tech Massacre happened there was no sign that Seung-Hui Chao was influenced by video games. In 2004 there were 1,972 video games released, there were also 1,423,677 crimes committed by teenagers. In 2005 there were 2,089 games released, there was 1,360,088 crimes committed by teenagers.  With the rapid growth of video games in the United States teenagers are becoming more involved with them.  They might be the reason why the number of crimes that were committed by teenagers has decreased from 2004-05.  Ultimately video games can be the reason why the player is in the house playing the game instead of doing something that could ruin his/her life.

 

 

 

The state should illegalized marijuana permanently due to the fact of the percentage rate of students drop out. What is marijuana? It is a weed that came from the Cannabis saliva plant. It contains more than 400 chemicals. 39.8 percent of the United State population has tried marijuana once in their life. Many people tried this drug because it's supposed be considered the "safe" drug, which is not true. It actually has a lot of effect on a human body.

It can create short-term memory and reduce the ability to do certain actions like driving around. THC is also one of the main ingredients. It affects the brain the most because the brain binds to work with Cannabis receptors. The receptors control your memory, thought, concentration, and other parts.

 When a person smokes marijuana, they tend to lose themselves. This drug mainly affects the young generations. The more they do it, the more they enjoy it. The more they enjoy it, the more they want to smoke and only smoke. Meaning that they lose interest in school and other hobbies.

 Studies show that young people, who use marijuana regularly, lose interest in schooling. It affects their learning in all subjects. They can't seem to remember things when they are high. This is probably why teens drop out of school often.

 If you think about it, young people do drugs because they think it's cool or because they are stressed out about something; mainly school and families. They feel as though that marijuana can help them unwind but at the end of the day, the problem is still there. You can escape from a situation for about a night, but when you wake up in the morning, it's still there. 

 Peers influence a mass amount of these young teens in their actions. Their peers usually peer pressure them into doing smoking. Some teens know that it's wrong but still do it because it's what’s considered "cool."

 This is probably why teens drop out of school often. I feel as though that the school district does not keep the kids motivated to learn so they can care less. In this case, the kids turn to drugs to pass the time.

 In the year of 2007, 18.8 percent of seniors used marijuana. Some seniors at that stage don't really care for school because it's there last year and they don't need to do anything so they might as well have fun. With that decision made, it can affect their future with college. Getting into a good college is harder than ever these days. Most community colleges and universities will look beyond the grades and check all of your high school student records. A history of drug use, possession, and buying, or selling drugs may kill your chances of getting into the college or university of your choice.

 Study shows that if a person smokes five joints a day can get cancer. Not only that, but if you're a pregnant and you smoke marijuana constantly, it can damage your baby's health. It will mainly cause more pain for your child than you.

 Marijuana can damage our emotions. It can make you laugh one minute and then make you depressed the next. What these people don't realize is that the decisions they make, affect their surroundings.

 For a pregnant woman, her decision to smoke marijuana affects her baby. For a teen, his/her decision affects his/her future and friends. Once you make that one decision, you can’t go back to it.

 

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​“Since When Is It Okay?”

 

     At an elementary school a teacher had taken a girl’s hair and cut one of the braids. She cut the braid because the girl was playing with it. At another school a teacher kicked out her student because of the kind of hair product she had in her hair. The girl was mixed with black and white and was the only colored child in the class; the teacher was white. She kicked the girl into the hallway and then told her to go to another class were it was all black students. The parents were mad about the whole thing because the teacher didn’t take it up with the parents.

            Women have started to have a big eating disorder. About 5-10 million girls in the USA suffer from an eating disorder. One girl name Jade Hughes had a problem with this and was diagnosed with chronic anorexia. She played soccer from elementary to high school was always in shape, was only 120 pounds and 5”4. She was never over weight but because of what people told her she wanted to be in charge of something in her life. She took control of her eating, the only thing she had control over. She had to eventually go to the hospital and got therapy to help her and try to go back to were she was because she had to drop down to 80 pounds.

            Women have had a problem lately with being disrespected, frowned upon, and so many other things. Media has become a big factor in why women are looked down on as if they can’t be equal to a male. The music today is all about a girl shaking her butt to a beat and men being put over top of the women. Music went being about the music and something new in life to be about “money, trappin, and hoes.” On Kanye West new CD album he has a picture of a naked white women on top of a black men. Men and women have lost respect for each other they don’t have the same values as people did when back in the 80’s and early 90’s.

            When did it become okay for a man to down grade a woman? When did it become okay for girls to call each other out of name and laugh about it as if it was nothing?  These are the questions I ask when I see a women being disrespected by a man who doesn’t even deserve her. These are the types of questions I ask when I walk through the hallways in a high school and see boys cursing girls out like its nothing. Or when I see a boy trying to act like they all big and bad. Why sit there and take that type of disrespect and just laugh about it, it shows what type of women you are when you let that stuff slide. 

            As women we should be treated as royalty. Not for the simple fact that we should but we are what keep the world growing. Women need to step up and not take the disrespect that we have already endured enough. We fought for so long to have the same right as a man but in the end we let them walk all over us. It’s time for women to be treated like a women and not a dog. It’s time for change.

​                   Who will cry for them?

           When growing up men are told two things; “never show emotions it makes you seem weak and never lay your hands on a women.” Those two rules ruins the way men are looked at in society and doesn’t preserve their rights as human beings. For ages women have fought for rights, only to throw them away by playing victim.  There is an epidemic that is sweeping the world and destroying cultures based on how women should carry themselves and how men should be presented in society. 

 

            When growing up in school people hear about not having a good report with their father or not knowing them at all, the justification usually heard is “he let after the he found out my mom was pregnant.” Women always tend to victimize themselves. Unless the sex wasn’t consensual then the women had the choice to wear a condom or protect her self and preserve her future the best way she could. 

 

            Women usually put themselves in a situation where they can play victim.  In some cases women will deliberately poke holes in condoms, hoping being pregnant will keep the guy around.  When Hilary Clinton was running for president in 2008 she was bashed with cartoons that held negative connotations regarding women and their status in society, during that process many women around the world were outraged. Yet everyday women degrade themselves and put themselves in harmful situations that they can prevent and/or stand up to.

 

            An incident that occurred February 25th is a perfect example of how women put themselves in a predicament that will do harm. In Manhattan, New York a man was in his car trying to find a parking space, he seen a women who was standing on the driver side of her car, he assumed she was pulling out of the space. He then waited and she refused to move from the space they began to argue, he got out of his car and she then decided to hit him repeatedly. He hit her one time to defend him self she fell to the ground, hit her head, she was then in a coma.

 

            In this situation there were blog posts from many different places that bashed that mans character. It said things like “It doesn’t matter that she hit him, a man has no right to hit her back.” Women wrote the majority of the quotes that shows how much they want to be pitied. If a women acts like a man and does bodily harm to a man then he has the right to do the same. The most degrading thing a woman could do to herself is playing the victim in a situation that could destroy another person’s life.

 

            There is a difference between abusing someone and a person defending themselves. Society tends to draw a vague line between what the borders are for being a women and being a man are.  There is no vague line between being a human there is no excuse for why men shouldn’t be able to defend themselves if someone does physical harm to them.

 

            These two rules: “never show emotions, it makes you seem weak and never lay your hands on a women.” Should be the most insulting thing to a women and the thing men should want to change most in order to be considered equal to one another and human.